


Trust in Me

by Winter_Moonlight



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-12-01 20:07:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winter_Moonlight/pseuds/Winter_Moonlight
Summary: Underneath the moonlight, Ritsu reminisces about his time with Izumi, and the journey his heart has taken since meeting.





	Trust in Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bradnero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bradnero/gifts), [ritsuizuleo (nightfullofstars)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightfullofstars/gifts).

> As gently requested and encouraged to write by my friends, here is a pile of sadness... A gift to you two~~

High in the sky, bathing the earth in its cool light and untouchable beauty, is the moon. Day dwellers long since retiring into the safety of their homes. The nocturnal only beginning to arise and start their hunt anew. While one creature is imprisoned by the moon’s pull, another is given freedom. The freedom to walk upon the earth. The freedom to fulfill the yearnings inside of their hearts.

The hunters creep only with muted footsteps and hushed voices. The sole sounds within the dead of night are those of prey crying out their last breaths.

Silver moonbeams glitter across black lacquer – like tiny stars against the onyx sky. The pitch-dark room is illuminated with a soft light, casting the objects within with an ethereal, otherworldly glow. Figures washed in a blend of moonlight and cloaks of shadows that they are nothing more than a seeming illusion. Sparkles luster so fleetingly in the air that they disappear in the next moment’s notice.

Within the blanket of night, a solemn nocturne slices through the otherwise noiseless air. The stunning notes against the still space resonates louder in the silent darkness.

Fingers, with skin as pale as an apparition’s, glide across the lacquered surface of piano keys, the instrument echoing out the emotions hidden deep within his very soul.

It was a night much like tonight, underneath the moonlight…

Ritsu was wandering the school halls. He didn’t want to go home, where his older brother might be. He didn’t want to go home, where there might not be anyone waiting for him. The conflict within his heart, chained him immobile.

On his way to the music room, he saw a light filter out from underneath one of the studio doors. It wouldn’t be his problem if not for this particular door leading into the one room in this entire academy that was beginning to feel like a welcoming home for him. He crept up to it and pushed it open.

Light flashed against his pupils.

When his eyes adjusted, the figure sitting slouched against the desk caught his attention.

He knew this boy. With hair the color of moonlight – its shine competing against the moon that was staring in from just beyond the window – was Izumi Sena. Izumi Sena the, now, third-year student of Yumenosaki Academy, and the person responsible for pulling Ritsu into all kinds of problems. The person who asked for Ritsu’s help without knowing a thing – without using him to get closer to his ever-unreachable older brother.

He was the person Ritsu called by the name Secchan.

And he did; called out that nickname in a soft whisper.

Izumi sat up straight and only quickly looked over his shoulder before turning back. He asked, in a tone etched with annoyance, what Ritsu was doing at school this late at night.

Ritsu couldn’t help but notice the quiver in it. He made his way inside and closed the door. Ritsu took another chair and pulled it next to the boy. He swore he heard Izumi’s teeth grind together followed by a hard swallow. His eyes roamed the sight in front of them. Laid across the desk were papers for their unstable, blood soaked unit, Knights.

Right.

Leo was gone.

For some reason – since the beginning – he and Izumi understood each other without many words passing in between them. Ritsu knew. He understood. Of all of the guilt building inside. Of all the things Izumi regretted. Of all the things he could’ve done differently. The things that haunted his nightmares.

A weight suddenly pressed against his shoulder.

“Don’t say a word.” Izumi hissed between his teeth, breath getting sucked in and trapped within his throat. His forehead pressed harder against Ritsu’s shoulder.

Ritsu hummed, not even turning his head to peer at his friend. “You can trust me.”

Izumi could trust him… Because Ritsu is grateful that he got pulled into all of those troubles. He was finally beginning to feel like he belonged somewhere.

It was a night much like tonight, underneath the moonlight…

Ritsu once said that Izumi loved their King a lot.

With fireworks bursting in the background, he couldn’t help but want Izumi’s wish to come true. Maybe Leo really was watching them sing and dance on that stage. He wanted Izumi’s wish to come true, yet his heart hurt in a way he was unfamiliar with.

He knew how to protect. He said what he needed to so that that Trickstar boy would end his ceaseless game of taking but never giving back the love being presented to him. Of taking the love, brushing it away like it meant nothing, but never putting a stop to their endless game. Izumi was an important comrade. Izumi needed the support as his heart desperately tried to heal. Izumi couldn’t take another major wound and come out of it sane.

And yet… why did his own heart start to tear at the seams? What injury did he sustain, at that time?

But, even so, Ritsu wished he could see a splotch of orange when he looked out into the crowd.

_Their_ last moments had been bathed in flames. The chaos of their battlefield tearing them apart – out of arms reach. That is… until Leo leapt in front and took his final blow. With no love to assist in keeping it held together, _his_ King’s already bleeding heart shattered into as many shards as there were stars in the sky.

_His_ King ran.

Even he was afraid of absolute death. Who could blame him?

If Izumi could, he would not be bleeding himself.

Their last moments had been left unconcluded – aggravated. Like a wound left unattended with an infection settling and festering within. Their argument was left open for too long. So long that it was impossible to act like everything was okay. So long that the guilt has built up so substantially that it was nearly unbearable to go back.

So, if Leo was here, would Izumi begin healing? Before it became too late?

Ritsu wished for it – as his heart ached within his chest and his throat started to close up upon that stage with fireworks bursting above them like tiny bombs, he desperately wished for it.

Desired it with all of his trickling heart.

Before they lost Izumi, too.

It was a night much like tonight, underneath the moonlight…

The night after Leo came crashing back into their lives and declared war. Declared Judgement. His stomach lurched, about to jump out of his throat, but he needed to stop Izumi. Leo was back, but that was not the Leo Izumi knew.

Nor was this the Izumi that Leo knew.

Izumi’s anger, the anger concealing all of his agony, would clash too catastrophically with Leo’s desperate need to see a change. To see that the remnants of his failed reign scarred over and began to heal in those new times of peace. And if he saw no amity, he would recreate another massacre. He would end all of their lives so that naught would trigger – not ever again. He would pay for his crimes with the lives of his once dear allies – followed by his own grief-stricken soul as he watched them pass on.

Ritsu pleaded. Pleaded for Izumi not to run off to Leo. For Izumi to leave it up to him and worry about his own bleeding heart. Ritsu pleaded, despite his heart tearing open and spilling a fresh pool of bright red right on top of what was already splattered at their feet.

Izumi would get hurt. Beyond repair. Beyond what anyone could hope to recover.

Beyond what Ritsu could help mend – no matter how much of love and care he poured into the model.

Late into the night, Ritsu – as Izumi’s Knights’ strategist – wracked the deepest corners of his mind for a flawless plan. A plan to counter _his_ ever-clever king who so cunningly gathered up the leader of two units and the second in command of a fierce group of opponents in their own right.

As much as Ritsu would have loved to give Izumi the satisfaction of going one-on-one with Leo, Ritsu could not. For the sake of them. For Izumi’s sake. _They_ have fought together for too long; knew each other too well. Leo only needed a couple looks before he understood the movements of his allies and his enemies to an alarming degree.

And even after that decisive Live, nothing was resolved.

If anything, _their _world began to crumble anew. The infection remained; decaying into deep, angry black.

They walked on something far worse than eggshells with each other. Landmines littered every centimeter of the massive distance between them, triggering every step they attempted to get closer.

Ritsu knew. He knew that Izumi was too afraid to say his thoughts for fear that Leo will listen all too well. So, the model kept his mouth shut – his feelings getting locked back into his heart and the key getting tossed into the abyss. Ritsu felt the shift in Izumi like it was happening to him, personally. Izumi was separating from them. Distancing himself so he didn’t cause any more anguish.

_They_ no longer shared a closeness that was admirable.

Now, they only shared a distance so imposing that Ritsu felt their pain physically within the organ pumping life blood through his body.

He wanted it to end – wanted the bleeding to stop. For _them_.

It didn’t matter how much he lost as sacrifice.

It was a night much like tonight, underneath the moonlight…

Knights had finished a Live, their match ending in victory. Their spirits high, the five of them changed out of their uniforms with joyous chatter amongst them.

His eyes couldn’t help but slide over to gaze at the third-year duo.

People have said that he and Izumi matched together well. The red of his eyes and the blue of Izumi’s were well tuned complementary colors. With the addition of his ebony hair assorted with Izumi’s near-white silver, the two of them made for a perfect pair of opposites.

They were an artist’s favorite subjects. Favorite pairing of color palettes.

With only two centimeters separating them in height, Ritsu could just as easily become Izumi’s contradictory carbon copy. Where Izumi lacked, Ritsu would be more than willing to fill in.

Their personalities already fit together like correct puzzle pieces; keeping each other on the right path all the while keeping the other afloat within their turbulent world. They weren’t drowning each other; they never pulled each other down into the depths of the unknown.

They never took each other for granted.

They forgave each other’s wrongdoings.

Leo’s loud laughter, his loud exclamations; all actions Izumi would never even dream of doing. The frivolous way Leo threw out sacred words like ‘I love you’ must grate at Izumi’s very inner being. They pretended everything was back to normal when they both knew – all too well – that nothing was the same. They both let past arguments hang in the air, offering no closure, no mercy. The wounds they impaled into each other’s hearts with their very own swords remain open. Untreated.

Whereas he and Izumi were opposites in looks, Izumi and Leo were opposites in characters.

And yet, as his ruby eyes observed them – rugged orange against silky silver, lively emerald against serene azure, one noticeably shorter than the other – he couldn’t help from feeling jealousy. His chest ached; his fingers curled into his palm trying to hold the pain within. The feeling rose so rapidly, he could taste unfair words forming on his tongue.

Ritsu couldn’t help but think that they looked even better together. Couldn’t help but think that they made the perfect image. He couldn’t help but think their inharmonious personalities was just a clandestine treasure waiting to be discovered. A secret formula used to achieve the utmost of results.

Thus, Ritsu held all of the mournful sounds his heart cried out within his body and locked them in tight.

Because they looked happy.

The solemn melody echoing between the bland walls of the music room is only interrupted by the click of the door opening. So easily pushed aside, one could do it with a single finger.

“I thought I recognized this style. It really was you, Rittsu.” A hushed voice calls out.

His fingers stop caressing the keys, hovering above them flirtingly. The nocturne is paused for now.

“You’re still here, Kuma-kun? It’s really late.”

Their voices tug a small smile from his lips. “Mm. Just felt like playing a bit.”

His heart did.

Leo sits on the spare bench next to him and Izumi stands on his other side. Ritsu brings his arms down, fingertips now gliding across the fabric covering his knees.

“Something wrong?” Leo asks quietly, leaning a little closer.

“No. Nothing.” Ritsu closes his eyes briefly. “What are you two still doing here?”

“We were choreographing a new song Ou-sama wrote.” Izumi replies. “You’re going to get caught by a teacher.”

Ritsu turns and peers up at the model in amusement. “So will you, Secchan~”

Izumi’s eyes are sparkling prettily against the darkness of the room.

“Want to go home together?” The model offers.

Ritsu feels the weight of Knights’ leader lean onto his shoulder, reminding him that he and Izumi are not the only two people in the whole world. Reminding him that this moment is not meant for just them. _His _King is back, now.

He shakes his head. “Take Ou-sama home. I think I’ll sleep here.”

“Again?” Leo wonders with a pout. “Take care of yourself, Rittsu…”

How could he ever dislike their King?

“Don’t worry, this is the time I’m at my strongest.” Ritsu flashes Leo a grin. “I’ll sleep in our studio in a bit. Where there’s bedding.”

Leo tilts his head, still unsure if leaving Ritsu in their quiet academy building is the right move.

“You sure you’ll be fine by yourself, Kuma-kun?”

Turning back to his other side, away from Leo’s prying gaze, Ritsu breathily mouths the words, _‘trust in me.’_

Izumi raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow in confusion, but Ritsu ushers them out of the music room before either can say any more.

Although the moon did not shine so high in the sky, it was in this very room, with only the thin door separating them, that Ritsu once watched their world fall to ruin – so long ago, now.

He was an outsider to their troubles.

He was only a work acquaintance, being called upon sparingly.

He listened to their raised voices, unable to move. His body shook and his mind halted to a stop. Like a helpless kid, too scared to make any moves without the comfort of his family by his side.

He listened as they took up their swords and plunged them into each other’s hearts. He listened as poisonous words corrupted their minds. He did nothing as the seed of doubt was being planted.

He listened to the way they regained their senses after everything was already said and done. After everything journeyed too far to turn back.

The sounds of their wounds pooling blood onto the ground and getting left untreated haunted his dreams in the night. The sight of them walking with gaping chests haunted his visions in the day, thereafter.

He listened and waited for the footsteps to fade away, to emerge from the silent room.

If he wasn’t so frightened, perhaps things would have ended differently. Perhaps Izumi and Leo would still remain as close as family, all of this time. If he took just one step outside, they would have stopped. Even if he didn’t say anything, they could have gathered their thoughts before the venomous words took hold. Before their happiness had faded away.

He was a coward.

But dwelling on what ifs won’t help him, now. Dwelling on the things he could have done differently would not make him any less of a weakling back then.

Ritsu walks to the window and gazes towards the ground. The figures of his two very dear friends make their way out of school grounds. He smiles wistfully as he watches Leo help Izumi climb over the perimeter wall.

The moonlight shines down on them, illuminating the couple in an ethereal glow. Watching over them as they grow together.

“Trust in me, Secchan…” Ritsu whispers against the glass, his breath fogging up the cold pane briefly, “…I’ll set you free, underneath the moonlight.”

Albeit, his heart sings to a sorrowful tune…

What he wants just as much as Izumi’s love – if not more so – is his forgiveness.

There is nothing in the world that Ritsu would do to hinder that. Not even for everlasting adoration.

The moon’s gravitation pull that Izumi is being drawn towards is not RItsu’s. The moon Izumi needs is not Ritsu.

He never meant for it to turn out this way, in the first place. He could have saved so much of his heartache if it didn’t turn out so. However, he did not regret his decisions coming to this point.

He’s sorry for being such a coward.

He wants to make up for it. With everything he has.

Ritsu hopes the smile on Izumi’s lips is testament to his rediscovered happiness. The happiness that Ritsu could’ve prevented from disappearing all that time ago. He hopes that he has earned, at least, a portion of Izumi’s mercy.

With some more work, Ritsu is sure he can help rebuild that bond. At the sacrifice of his own life, he steps in front of Izumi and allows his already bleeding heart to shatter into as many shards as there are stars in the sky. Until the words stop hurting, he’ll protect Izumi from Leo. Until the day they can understand each other again…

Until the day they are as close as family again…

…Ritsu will do anything for him.

Because Ritsu loves Izumi more than anything under the moonlight.

He watches as even their silhouettes in the light of the moon disappear into the distance. Taking soft steps back towards the piano, he sits down and places his fingers in the position where the melody was halted.

The solemn nocturne returns. The piano echoes out the notes at the will of its player.

As the sole sound within the dead of night, Ritsu continues to play out the songs beating within his bleeding heart.

**Author's Note:**

> the symbolism is OFF THE CHARTS; RITSU IS PREY
> 
> okay, anyways. If you weren't aware, the "moon" character in the Japanese language appear in both Ritsu's and Leo's names. They are the moon/moonlight.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed~ Kudos/Comments are greatly appreciated!!


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